1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a noise reducing device, an electronic camera and an image processing program for reducing image noise by using a blackout image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fixed pattern noise generally appears in image data obtained through long-exposure shooting with an electronic camera. There is a known device for removing this type of noise disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-125204.
This conventional device first prepares image data that is normally captured and blackout image data that is captured while a shutter is closed. Next, it subtracts the blackout image data from the image data in each pixel, to common-mode reject the fixed pattern noise.
However, the blackout image data captured through the long-exposure shooting includes random noise in addition to the fixed pattern noise. Therefore, the aforesaid the conventional device has a problem in the subtraction processing that the random noise is reversed in phase and added to the image data, resulting in increasing noise in the image data unintentionally.